Reader Contributions

27082009

Thanks to Jim Schmidt for transcribing this letter from Surgeon Frank Hamilton of the 31st NY and published in the American Medical Times in 1861. And thanks to him for allowing me to post it to the resources here in its entirety. As a rule I don’t regurgitate here items that appear on other sites (specifically original content articles), but this qualifies as a resource and I don’t like to rely on another site being around in a month let alone 20 years, so I like to get the material on-site. Jim intends to cull his and on-line collections of medical journals for more First Bull Run material and transcribe it when time permits, which can only be good for Bull Runnings.

Dulce bellum inexpertis

“I am sending you these little incidents as I hear them well authenticated. They form, to the friends of the parties, part of the history of the glorious 21st. More anon.”

About

Hello! I’m Harry Smeltzer and welcome to Bull Runnings, where you'll find my digital history project on the First Battle of Bull Run which is organized under the Bull Run Resources section. I'll also post my thoughts on the processes behind the project and commentary on the campaign, but pretty much all things Civil War are fair game. You'll only find musings on my “real job” or my personal life when they relate to this project. My mother always told me "never discuss politics or religion in mixed company”, and that's sound advice where current events are concerned.

The Project

This site is more than a blog. Bull Runnings also hosts digitized material pertaining to First Bull Run. In the Bull Run Resources link in the masthead and also listed below are links to Orders of Battle, After Action Reports, Official Correspondence, Biographical Sketches, Diaries, Letters, Memoirs, Newspaper Accounts and much, much more. Take some time to surf through the material. This is a work in process with no end in sight, so check back often!